World Today

The mobile broadband internet services on Thursday remained suspended for the consecutive third day in several parts of the country in the aftermath of the riots triggered by the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, causing a loss of Rs1.6 billion to telecom companies.
The government suffered a loss of Rs570 million in revenue from telecom companies as well.
The suspension is affecting e-commerce, online services, home delivery and ride-hailing apps too.
Lahore High Court’s Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh sought replies from the federal government and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) by May 22 in a plea seeking directions to restore the internet services and resume the operations of social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
However, Justice Sheikh turned down the petitioner’s request to grant interim relief by immediately passing directions to restore the internet services.

LAHORE:
A writ petition was filed on Wednesday in the Lahore High Court (LHC) to restore internet services and social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in the country which were disrupted after protests broke out following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan yesterday.
The petition stated that the court is requested to declare the impugned blockage as arbitrary, illegal, unlawful, and constitutional which is tantamount to depriving the public of their basic right.

The petition was filed by petitioner Abuzar Salman Khan Niazi who made respondents the Federation of Pakistan through secretary ministry of information technology and telecommunication, Pakistan Telecommunication through its chairman, CM Pak Limited through its CEO, Pakistan Telecom Mobile Limited and others.

He contended in the petition that on May 9, the PTI chief was arrested but soon after his arrest, countrywide protest started as a result of which the internet service was blocked